


like sparks

by therjolras



Category: Fantastic Four (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, M/M, Wrong Number AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 01:05:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5519765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therjolras/pseuds/therjolras
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnny Storm Sent 4:23 PM: first of all, wrong number and second ER??? plz explain was it cool????</p><p>Or, Reed texts the wrong person. It winds up alright, or better than.</p>
            </blockquote>





	like sparks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jo_Girard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jo_Girard/gifts).



> MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE RED ONI SLASH TIME LORD'S COMPANION JO. this is your OTP but it's pretty cool so I guess... hope I did well. This started out as totally AU, but then it wound up being more UA-in-which-Reed-and-Johnny-know-each-other-before-Johnny-gets-strongarmed-into-the-gate-project. Also yo there's background suevictor if you want to call it that. happy christmas mayor kyaku.

Unknown Number Seen 4:22 PM: _I’m on the way out of the ER now, please don’t be mad. Everything’s fine._

 

Johnny Storm Sent 4:23 PM: _first of all, wrong number and second ER??? plz explain was it cool????_

 

Unknown Number Seen 4:24 PM _I’m very sorry! It was VERY cool, though. I was troubleshooting a theory and… well, I blew up my lab._

 

Johnny Storm Sent 4:24 PM: _bro, that blows. geddit? lol anyway are u a scientist or somth? (im johnny btw)_

 

Unknown Number Seen 4:25 PM: _My name’s Reed Richards, nice to meet you. And I'm a physics major, so I guess you could say I'm a scientist._

 

Unknown Number Seen 4:25 PM: _Also, well played._

 

Johnny Storm Sent 4:26 PM: _awesome. where r u studying?_

 

Unknown Number Seen 4:26 PM: _The Baxter Foundation._

 

Johnny Storm Sent 4:26 PM: _in manhattan?_

 

Unknown Number Seen 4:27 PM: _Yes. How did you guess?_

 

Johnny Storm Sent 4:27 PM: _long island area code, buddy_

 

Unknown Number Seen 4:28 PM: _Touché. Are you from Long Island?_

 

Johnny Storm Sent 4:29 PM: _nah, manhattan. wanna get coffee? i’ll tell u bout my crashes if u tell me bout blowing up ur lab._

 

Unknown Number Seen 4:30 PM: _That sounds awesome. When are you free?_

 

“Yo, Pete!” Johnny called, leaning out the car window so his voice echoed around the garage. “We got plans tonight?”

“Not unless you get your ass in trouble!” Peter called back. “Why?”

“None of your damn business!” Johnny called.

 

Johnny Seen 4:36 PM _i’m free tonight. u?_

  R. Richards Sent 4:37 PM:  _I have class until 6.  Which I will probably be late to, unplanned lab explosions and all. 6:30 at the Starbucks across from Baxter?_

Johnny Seen 4:37 PM: _i’m in. i’ll be the dashingly handsome black man in the red shirt. ;)_

R. Richards Sent 4:38 PM:  _See you then!_

“Victor! Thank god. How can you tell when someone’s hitting on you?” Victor whipped around as Reed jogged up to him, and his eyebrows arched in that way Reed identified as meaning _talk quickly._ “I texted the wrong guy when I was trying to get ahold of Ben, and this guy I accidentally texted said we should get coffee. How do I tell if he’s hitting on me?”

“ _How,_ ” Victor said, “Should I know?”

“Well, you and Sue flirt all the time?” Reed said, shrugging. “I thought you’d recognize the characteristics.”

“Sue and I are. _Flirting,_ ” Victor repeated.

“Ye-es?” Reed replied.

“Yes, yes we are,” Victor said. “You. Are on your own.” He turned and hurried off. Reed frowned after him for a short minute and then hurried off in the same direction, because that was the direction class was in. It occurred to him a little late that he’d forgotten to ask for Victor’s number.

Ben called him while he was in class, and left a voicemail. When Reed checked it after, he added Ben’s number to his contacts and texted him about the lab incident. Ben texted him five minutes after with a string of exclamation marks; Reed, who had been sure to give full disclosure up front, just repeated that he was perfectly fine and went to his next class.

As an afterthought, while he was listening to yet another professor ramble about astrophysics he texted Ben to see if he knew how to tell when someone was hitting on you.

 R. Richards Sent 5:13 PM  _How do you tell when someone's hitting on you?_

Ben Seen 5:14 PM _depends. do I want to know?_

R. Richards Sent 5:15 PM  _I tried to text you earlier and sent it to the wrong person. Said wrong person has suggested we go out for coffee and I think he may be hitting on me. How can I tell?_

Ben Seen 5:15 PM _well, the first thing is to know if he's an axe murderer or not. do you know his name?_

R. Richards Sent 5:16 PM  _His name is Johnny, and we're meeting at the Starbucks across from the Baxter Building. He said he'd tell me about his crashes if I told him about my lab explosions._

Ben Seen 5:17 PM _well, the good news is if you're meeting at Starbucks he probably won't murder you on the spot. the bad news is that he may bring out the worst in you._

Ben Seen 5:19 PM _and you know you could just ask him._

R. Richards Sent 5:20 PM  _That's a good plan._

Ben Seen 5:20 _damn right it is. that’s why you ask me these things._

R. Richards Sent 5:21 PM  _I ask you because we’re best friends, but that’s a good reason too._

Ben Seen 5:21 PM _:)_

\---

Reed was late. At this point just by a minute or two, but late. Johnny had yet to be upset-- growing up with Sue, he had a working knowledge of science types and their behavior on the job. He had a mochaccino and new schematics to keep him company, so he could wait a few minutes.

A few minutes turned into half an hour, and Johnny was doodling on the margins. He suspected that by now people had caught onto him stealing hopeful glances toward the door, too.

Half an hour turned into forty-five minutes. Johnny got a refill. The Batista gave him a sympathetic smile and extra whip. Rather than being reassured, he felt a little humiliated.

Just before forty-five minutes turned into an hour, the door burst open and a scrawny white dude arrived, breathing hard and looking more than a little flustered. It took him less than a moment to straighten up, straighten his glasses, and appear the pinnacle of calm again; he joined the line with his back to Johnny, which Johnny took as an invitation to study him. He looked like an undergrad-- he had the rumpled, running-his-hands-repeatedly-through-his-hair look that Johnny had seen on Sue more than once before he skipped out-- and he had both soot and what looked like motor oil on his shirt. Johnny wondered if this was some divine providence to make his evening worthwhile after all.

Undergrad reached the counter and ordered, and lingered at the counter like he was asking the barista something. His number, with Johnny’s luck. The barista listened, leaning over the counter a bit ( _fuck_ Johnny's life, honestly), and then he pointed towards Johnny.

_Shit._

They caught him stalking, didn't they. They knew he was stalking and they were gonna kick him out, before he got the number of the cute undergrad with the curly dark hair.

Undergrad was approaching. RED ALERT RED ALERT stay cool, Johnny, it's all good. He tried to act natural as the undergrad approached, grabbing a quick drink of his mochaccino (liquid courage for any occasion), and then they were facing each other.

“Johnny?” The undergrad said.

“Yes?” Johnny replied. It figured. Undergrad was probably one of Sue’s minions, come to steal his soul. Good luck with that, buddy.

“I am _so_ sorry I'm late,” the Undergrad said. “Something came up, and then the project I'm working on had a small breakthrough and we were all afraid it was going to blow up-- anyway, I'm sorry. I should have warned you.”

“You,” Johnny managed to say. The stupidly cute undergrad-- even cuter up close-- was--

“Reed!” the barista called. Reed’s eyebrows spiked behind his glasses.

“Excuse me!” he said, and darted away to the counter. Johnny watched him accept his drink, thank the barista sincerely if a little loudly, and jog back; when he returned he was still flustered, but the hand that held his coffee was steady. That held promise, at least. “Er,” Reed said. “May I sit down?”

“Go ahead, dude,” Johnny said, sliding his schematics into a pile to make room. Reed climbed up into the chair opposite him, setting down his cup and just barely missing dropping it onto the floor as he leaned over to look at the schematics.

“This is cool,” he said. “The way the fuel injectors synchronize--”

“Thanks,” Johnny said. “S’just something I’m messing around with.” Reed _hmm_ ed, trailing one finger along the nearest edge, his coffee and possibly Johnny completely forgotten. Johnny asked, hoping to get the conversation going again, asked “What was that about things blowing up?”

Reed looked up, all at once completely and totally present. “Oh!” He said. “So, I’m studying at the Baxter Institute, right, and this guy Doctor Storm offered me a scholarship because I built a teleporter. Long story. Anyway, me and this guy Victor are trying to make it bigger and we’re running into some… roadblocks. But today we had a breakthrough! And almost blew everything up, so it was all-hands-on-deck touch-and-go for a while. Hence the, ah--”

“Soot and motor oil look?” Johnny guessed. Reed nodded. “It’s a good look,” Johnny said. “Very rugged. Blue-collar grease-monkey type.” Reed’s eyes dropped from Johnny’s to the table as his ears turned pink. The corner of his mouth was turning up, pleased, and Johnny felt a little pleased himself.

“Thanks,” Reed said.

“My pleasure,” Johnny replied. At that Reed seemed to remember something: his eyebrows went up at the same time his head did, and he asked Johnny,

“Are you hitting on me?”

Johnny had to laugh. Because Reed was so _oblivious,_ completely earnest and not affronted but obviously clueless. “Yes,” he said. “I am definitely hitting on you, Reed Richards. Is there a problem with that?”

Reed shrugged, his clueless expression turning pleased again. “Not really.”

“Awesome. Are you gonna drink that coffee or not?”

Reed shrugged again and picked up his cup, taking a sip and immediately spluttering. " _Sweet,"_ he gasped. "What the hell."

"You okay, dude?" Johnny asked. Reed shook his head, setting down the cup and treating it to a distasteful look. 

"I told the barista, 'I'll have what he's having,' and I got something too sweet to even be enjoyable. That's not coffee, dude. That's... overpriced dessert."

"I like my coffee," Johnny said, tilting his head up to look down his nose at Reed. Reed snorted.

"If you say so," he said. "You can have mine, it might rot my teeth out."

"I'm not sure coffee can do that," Johnny replied blithely. "Although it might give you diabetes if you start out too fast. I had to build up a tolerance first." He opened Reed's cup and his own and poured as much of Reed's as would fit into his cup. "Anyway. How did you manage to misdial and call me? That's pretty difficult in this day and age."

"My phone was destroyed when my lab blew up," Reed said sheepishly. "I had to get a new one. And your number's just one or two digits off from my best friend's-- he lives on Long Island, where I'm from. I've promised to text him every time I go into the ER so he can yell at me about it."

"Is this a regular thing?" Johnny asked.

"Maybe?"

"You," Johnny said. "I like you."

**Author's Note:**

> and there we are. FAR TOO SHORT and yet I'm on a deadline, ah well. if you like fantastic four and obnoxious teenaged men, please hit me up on tumblr @captainpeggys and also the bae Jo @fate-motif. you can reach the rest of the squad from our blogs, probably.  
> I'm OUT merry christmas happy holidays w/e


End file.
